


to days of inspiration (making something out of nothing)

by aletterinthenameofsanity



Series: even if it costs my life (I won't stop loving you) [6]
Category: Coco (2017)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual Character, Developing Friendships, F/F, F/M, Lesbian Character, Near Death, POV Outsider, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Queerplatonic Relationships, i live for bisexual Frida and lesbian Ceci being roomies/girlfriends/business partners/best friends, my soft skeleton artists, or these characters, why am i literally the only person working with this ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-22 00:56:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13752873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aletterinthenameofsanity/pseuds/aletterinthenameofsanity
Summary: As Héctor outlines his plan to Frida about how he plans to get the foto from Ernesto de la Cruz- deftly dodging Ceci’s pointed questions about how the celebrity got ahold of Héctor’s foto- Ceci bustles about, acquiring outfits for each of Héctor’s familia. She recognizes none of them save, maybe, the tall one- Victoria, she thinks the name was- and wonders where they have been for the past century. She’s known Héctor for thirty years and has never seen a single one of them.Anger fills her. Where were they while Héctor was being Forgotten? Where were they when this wonderful man grieved, cried, wrote such haunting music for Frida but never penned a note for himself? Where were this so-called familia? How could they abandon this man who, though flawed, is still one of the best people Ceci has ever met?(And then-Oh Dios, then she finds out at the Sunset Spectacular why they never checked up on him, and she feelsso sick-)





	to days of inspiration (making something out of nothing)

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from "La Vie Boheme" from RENT.
> 
> This stupid thing still won't let me tag new relationships, so if someone could please write either a Ceci/Frida fic or a Ceci & Frida fic, it would help greatly.  
> Also, the relationship between Ceci and Frida can be read as romantic or platonic, it's up to the reader. I'm not sure I know, as the writer, to be honest.

Ceci only met Héctor because Frida took a liking to him. Young and brittle looking with plenty of artistic spirit and only a kind, if humorous, word for everyone, he was exactly the kind of person that Frida would pull under her wing.

Over the next few decades, he helped them out with set up for the Sunset Spectacular and actually listened and contributed when Frida bounced ideas off of him. Though Ceci never got to see him sing, or even play a guitar, she _did_ get to see some of the musical pieces he composed for Frida over the years. For the most part they were breathtaking, though most carried a certain strain of melancholy that left Ceci’s bones aching with loss. She often wondered how such a positive, kind man could carry such grief in him.

(Over the years, he ended up revealing a number of things about this past to them. How he died on his way back to his daughter and wife, how his wife hated him for leaving them, how he was being Forgotten, slow and sure as could be.)

Héctor always refused to go to the Sunset Spectacular with them, always spending the entirety of Dia de Muertos attempting to cross in more and more harebrained attempts, and eventually, they stopped offering their extra seat. He did, however, “borrow” Ceci’s dresses in his fruitless attempts to sneak over the border, and though she always worked up frustration at him (often in a dramatic fashion- she _was_ an actress back in her Living days, after all) she grew quite fond of him, and even felt sorry for him. She and Frida both could make easy trips across the bridge (though they had to go early, due to setting up for the Sunset Spectacular) while Héctor was always forced to remain behind, never able to see his dear _hija_.

Though Ceci complained, she always had a dress or any variety of costumes ready for Héctor the day of Dia de Muertos. She was always ready to help out with his escapades, and her friends at the Department of Family Reunions (Ricardo, Lena, and Isandro) carried the same hopeless wish that she did: that one day, someone would put Héctor’s _foto_ up and he would be able to cross.

Nothing ever changed, though- year in and year out, she had to watch as he made fruitless attempts at the bridge with a kind of stubbornness that no other skeleton could quite match. Everyone else gave up trying to cross the bridge after a few years of trying, while Héctor had been going at this for _decades_. It was either sheer insanity or love that carried him through, and after long enough Ceci kind of figured it had to be both.

And then, in ‘07, the first gold wisp escaped Héctor’s bones, and she knew, a sinking feeling in her bones, that he didn’t have very much time left with them.

\---

When Héctor shows up at the workshop, a near army of skeletons at his heels, Ceci is ready to genuinely, for once, tear him a new one. She has _no_ time to get her and Frida over to the Sunset Spectacular- they’re running late, for the first time in fifteen years, all because Frida insisted on adding more music due to the suggestions of Héctor’s young friend- and as much as she likes Héctor, she _cannot_ handle him right now-

“We need your costumes and Frida’s help,” he cuts her off, “Ernesto De la Cruz stole my _foto_ , and Miguel here is the only way to get it to the Land of the Living.” When she hesitates for just a moment, he pleads, shoulders trembling, “ _Por favor_ , Ceci, this is my last chance to see Coco.”

She clucks her tongue but leads them to Frida and a few leftover outfits. She _does_ care about the young (old) man, and she knows that this is probably one of his last nights before Fading. She’s braced herself for losing one of her closest friends, but it still hurts.

“And who are these people?” she asks as she leads them forward.

“ _Mi familia_ ,” Héctor says, and she's as surprised as he sounds. “You met Miguel, and there are Oscar, Filipe, Rosita, Victoria, Julio, and my...Imelda.”

 _Oh._ Ceci’s heart goes out. She knows this name, catalogued it deep inside her the one time Héctor let it slip (the night of the Sunrise Spectacular of ‘01- he'd gotten spectacularly drunk after helping them break down Frida’s creation for the night). This is the name of the woman who Héctor loved, the one who turned him away.

(Her bones clench. This woman is probably the reason why Héctor is being Forgotten.)

They enter into a room where Frida’s dancers are all getting ready, changing into Ceci’s costumes. Frida herself is standing in the front, directing traffic.

“Frida,” Héctor says, and the artist turns to see him.

“Héctor-” she begins, and then spots Miguel. “Miguelito, my fellow artist! It is so good to see you-”

“ _Lo siento_ , Señora,” Miguel says, “But we’ve got bigger things to worry about.”

As Héctor outlines his plan to Frida about how he plans to get the _foto_ from Ernesto de la Cruz- deftly dodging Ceci’s pointed questions about how the celebrity got ahold of Héctor’s _foto-_ Ceci bustles about, acquiring outfits for each of Héctor’s _familia._ She recognizes none of them save, maybe, the tall one- Victoria, she thinks the name was- and wonders where they have been for the past century. She’s known Héctor for thirty years and has never seen a single one of them.

Anger fills her. Where were they while Héctor was being Forgotten? Where were they when this wonderful man grieved, cried, wrote such haunting music for Frida but never penned a note for himself? Where were this so-called _familia_? How could they abandon this man who, though flawed, is still one of the best people Ceci has ever met?

 

(And then-

Oh _Dios_ , _then_ she finds out why they never checked up on him, and she feels _so sick-)_

 

Ceci is at the Sunrise Spectacular, waiting in the wings with Frida, when everything goes down. She watches as Héctor's mysterious Imelda sings- beautifully, almost astoundingly so- and then hears, to her horror, of how Héctor was _murdered_. She watches one of her good friends nearly Fade, watches him collapse and his bones start to wisp away before, suddenly, the gold stops and his bones shudder. She nearly collapses in relief as he stays there, unconscious but _still dead._

She turns to Frida and finds the artist’s face twisted up into an angry snarl. “That _maldito bastardo_ killed dear Héctor? I will turn his face into a rotten fruit and give him a buzzing left ear and paint _ojos malvados_ all over his _cara de mierda_.”

“Just leave him under that bell _por el resto de la eternidad_ ” Ceci says. “He deserves it for what he did to Héctor and the rest of his _pobre familia_.”

Frida sighs and looks across the backstage to where the Riveras are gathered. Ceci sees Imelda oh so carefully scooping Héctor's fragile body up into her arms and carrying his body onto the back of her enormous _alebrije._

Ceci sighs. “I think he'll be alright.”

Frida nods as the rest of the Riveras climb onto the back of Imelda's _alebrije_ and take off. “ _Si,_ Ceci,” she says, pulling Ceci into a one-armed hug, “I think he will be. _Buena suerte,_ Héctor.”

\---

She and Frida visit Héctor and the Riveras a week after Dia de Muertos. Frida has become inspired by Héctor's fierce wife, who stopped by to thank them and tell them that Héctor had awakened, and Ceci wants to meet these people who make up Héctor's Living _familia._ Ceci wants to meet Julio, the husband of the legendary Coco, meet his sister, whose shoe embroidery is famous, and meet the Rivera twins, famous for the inventiveness with shoe design.

And, _claro que si_ , she wants to hang out with Victoria, who it turns out is the same Victoria who is dating the _prima_ of Ricardo, Ceci’s friend from the Department of Family Reunions. Ceci can’t wait to tell the man at their biweekly bar meetups with him, Lena, and Isandro.

 

Ceci slides into her seat at their usual table in _El Del-Fín_ , where Lena, Isandro, and Ricardo are already waiting.

“You hear about Héctor?” Ricardo asks immediately, and she nods.

“I saw him yesterday,” Ceci says, “He's doing _bien_ , though still not up to his usual antics yet.”

“I really hope he gets to cross next year,” Lena says, just as she always does, and for the first time in decades Ceci actually has hope that she might be right. That boy, Héctor’s _hijo_ , managed to keep Héctor from being forgotten. Who knows what will happen next Dia de Muertos?

But speaking of Héctor’s descendants…

“Did you know that Héctor’s granddaughter is dating your _prima_ Lefstebany, Ricardo?” Ceci asks, and Ricardo nearly spits out his drink.

“ _Me estas tomando mi pelo, si?”_ Ricardo nearly shouts, and Ceci shakes her head. " _Your_ Héctor, our bridge-jumper, is the _abuelo_ of Lefstebany's _novia?”_

Ceci nods. “ _Si_. Small _mundo, ¿verdad?”_

Isandro laughs. “ _Si,_ Señorita.”

 

She returns home that night to her and Frida’s apartment, on the bottom floor of their joint studio. She eventually finds herself cramped into their bathroom, Frida sitting on the closed toilet seat, writing away, and Ceci at the sink.

“So,” Ceci says as she rinses off her bone powder, “How does dinner with Ricardo and his _primos_ sound for Saturday? We can meet up with Ricardo, Lefstebany, Victoria, Alejandra, Raul, Layana, Antonio, and Fabio at _El Del-Fín_ around, _ay_ , 6 o’ clock?”

Frida, distracted as always, nods as she dashes a final note onto her notebook. Karina, her _alebrije_ , swings from the shower rod. Ceci’s _alebrije_ , a leaf frog named Ynez, sits contentedly on Frida’s lap. Ceci smiles at this strange little _familia_ of theirs.

“Frida,” she says gently, “You ready to sleep?”

Frida sets down her notebook on her lap and looks up at Ceci. “In a few _minutos,_ Cecilia.”

Ceci, used to the artist’s tendency to stay up late- in life, Frida had been so full of physical pain, that after death, having rejuvenated bones (memories are a wonderful thing) led to her wanting to spend as much time going as possible- nods and smiles as she wipes her fingers off on one of their towels.

“ _Buenas noches_ then, Frida,” Ceci says, and the great artist smiles at her as she leaves the restroom.

“ _Buenas noches,_ Cecilia.”

\---

A few weeks later, they head to Héctor’s performance, on the Riveras’ back patio. There, a motley group has assembled- the Riveras, the residents of Shantytown, Lefstebany, Ceci, and Frida all crowd in to here Héctor perform.

Then Héctor picks up a guitar for the first time since Ceci has known him (he always wrote out the musical score for Frida’s performances, never performed it), and she sees the way his bony fingers clutch at its wooden frame, the way they ghost over the strings with the reverence of long lost lovers finally reunited.

(It's the same way he interacts with Imelda, to be honest.)

He begins to strum, voice rising over the small crowd gathered, and Ceci sucks in a sharp breath as the love she always felt in his musical scores pours out, his talent plain for everyone to see. He sings, and the falseness of Ernesto de la Cruz drops away from a familiar-sounding melody.

Instead, Héctor Rivera plays a song that is a century old yet still rings all too true. His words are wholly his own, for the first time in a century, and Ceci couldn’t be happier for her friend.

She holds Frida’s hand and smiles as Frida pulls her up to dance with some of the Riveras. After decades knowing Héctor, she’s glad that he’s finally happy.


End file.
